Dreamland Burning

James is Rowan’s best friend. Like Rowan, he is mixed-race, but he is part black and part Native American, so he does not have white privilege. Unlike Rowan, James’ family is poor. He goes to school with Rowan, but he is on scholarship. James is also asexual and has had a strained relationship with his father ever since. James is a static character whose commitment to social justice and devotion to Rowan are as strong at the beginning of the novel as they are at the end. He knows who he is and is a model for Rowan as she figures herself out.

Rowan’s mother, Isis, is black and successful. She is a public defender, which means that she is using her financial and educational privilege to give back to those who are underprivileged. Isis has made her way in the world, and she tries to lead her daughter to do the same without doing the work for her.

Tim, Rowan’s father, is clueless when it comes to dealing with racial issues despite the fact that he has a black wife and daughter. However, when an outsider tries to appeal to him as the white man in the room, Tim doesn’t hesitate to defer them back to his wife.

Tru expertly runs the hectic Jackson Clinic from the reception desk, but he was also once a meth addict with no hope or future. Mama Ray helped him see that he had options, and he turned his life around. Tru demonstrates that no one needs to be written off as a lost cause.

When Rowan meets Arvin at the clinic, she has no idea how important he will become in her life. Arvin, whose last name suggests that he is a descendent of Angelina Brightwater, the Tillman family’s maid, is a simple but giving person. When he sees Rowan after the accident, his attempts to help are misguided but heroic, and he dies because he is so determined to help. Arvin represents the most vulnerable of society who need and deserve protection.

Will is the second of the novel’s two narrators, telling his story from 1921. Like Rowan, he is a mixed-race 17-year-old with a white father, and his mother is an Osage Indian. At the beginning of the novel, Will doesn’t understand the issues of racism or with taking his own white-passing privilege. However, Will’s relationship with Ruby begins to change the way he sees the world. At first, he’s cruel to Ruby, but then she cries and he understands that she’s a person with feelings. Will starts to see her as a sister. If Will wants to be a good person, he understands that he must risk his life to save people like Ruby. Will discovers that people he respected, such as Clete or his own father, do not share those values. Will must rise above his father and learn to hold his mother in higher esteem. Will shows that the circumstances of one’s upbringing do not need to define who a person is, and that maturity requires one to make choices independently and accept the consequences.

At the beginning of the novel, Clete is Will’s best friend. However, the incident at the Two-Knock is the moment when they begin to diverge. Clete has an affinity for black women but despises black men. Clete desperately seeks approval and acceptance through white supremacy. Clete is also a pathetic figure, unable to find a woman to love him and settling for one who will pretend if he pays her. Clete serves as a foil to Will, highlighting Will’s newfound maturity and selflessness by remaining stagnant and weak. When Clete is dying, Will demonstrates that he is the better person by comforting him. However, it is notable that Clete gets no redemption, even in his last moments when he seems ready to repent.

Joseph is smart, brave, and fearless, from the moment he convinces Stan Tillman to finance a Victrola to his heroic death. Although Joseph disappears for much of the novel, he is revealed through Ruby, who tells stories that humanize him and demonstrate how much he cares about his sister. Joseph also begins to reveal Stanley Tillman’s nature, as Will watches his father grow resentful of this young black man who pays his debt. Joseph helps Will to understand the righteous anger of those who are oppressed.

Ruby has a wide reputation as a hellion and a wild child. She is stubborn and refuses to obey, but she is also fierce and brave. She forces her way into Will’s life and makes him love her on her own terms. Most of the characters in the novel, other than Joseph and Will, find Ruby difficult to love. Ruby is endlessly resilient and will risk everything without hesitation to help the people she loves. Ruby demonstrates that behaving isn’t the same as being good. She is intelligent and even at 10 years old, Ruby knows about the brutality of men and the reaches of racial violence. She shows what it means to thrive, or as Aunt Tilda might phrase it, to keep getting up after being knocked down.

We see Will’s father, Stanley, through Will’s eyes; Will is desperate for his father’s approval. At first, Stan seems like a renegade, married to a Native American woman and selling Victrolas to black customers regardless of the law and deflecting Vernon Fish. Over the course of the novel, it becomes clear that Stan cares most about money. He marries a wealthy woman he can control, endangers his son for the sake of his store, and joins the Klan to protect his business. Will’s evolving relationship with his father shows that parents can be flawed or even malicious, and it is dangerous to idolize them blindly.

Will’s mother, Kathryn Yellowhorse Tillman, is an Osage Indian who has amassed a significant fortune. Her husband accuses her of coddling Will, but she seems to be the only parent who shows their son affection. Kathryn is quiet and rarely stands up for herself, but when she does, she does so firmly for things that matter.